“What’s that bird?”
“Which one?”
“The one next to the crow on the other tree.”
“Oh, that one. I dunno. Some kind of raptor. An Aussie peregrine? Here, look at it through the binoculars.” She passed him the binoculars and resumed her rumination.
Olivia was at the bottom of the tree now. “Can I come up?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Olivia climbed the eucalyptus tree and sat on the branch next to Owen.
Heather adjusted her position and looked in the direction of the farm. She couldn’t actually see it from here, but she could make out an inky line of smoke coming from that direction.
“The bird has red on its front—what would that be?” Owen asked, handing her the binoculars back.
“Gosh, I dunno, Owen. Big mistake not bringing an Australian-bird guidebook here. Don’t know why I didn’t think of it,” she said and adjusted the focus. “Some kind of kite, maybe?”
“Would Dad know?”
“He knew everything.”
“He didn’t know about birds,” Olivia said.
“I need to go to the bathroom. It’s a number two,” Owen said.
Heather knew what the problem was. “Use grass. That, I guess, is what humans used for the two hundred thousand years before the invention of toilet paper.”
He went off for two minutes. When he came back up the tree, he gave her a nod. “It worked OK. But now I’m hungry,” he said.
“We can’t get the eggs in daylight. What about that snake? Do you think we could eat that?” Heather asked.
“It’s poisonous!” Olivia said.
“No, it’s venomous, not poisonous! Dummy!” Owen said.
“Don’t call your sister names.”
“He’s the dummy!” Olivia said.
“Apologize, Olivia.”
“Make him apologize first.”
Normally this could go for fifteen or twenty minutes, but today Owen said simply, “Sorry, I didn’t mean that,” and Olivia said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it either,” like two goddamn kids on the Hallmark Channel.
“It seems cruel that they fly all this way and then we eat their eggs,” Owen said.
“We’ll get something else, then.”
Heather scanned the horizon. She knew the O’Neills would start looking for them again eventually. But without the dogs and with fuel low in their vehicles, they might not be moving that fast. And maybe this morning, they would start feeling sick from the poisoned well.
“You learned all about birds on that place you grew up?” Olivia asked.
“Goose Island. Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Why did you leave?” Olivia asked.
“Um, I think I just got to that stage when your parents suddenly flip from being always right to always wrong.”
Olivia nodded and dropped out of the tree and went wandering by the old ruined bus.
“That’s never going to happen to me ’cause I don’t have any parents,” Owen said.
Heather swallowed, hard. “Owen—”
“Hey, look what I got,” Olivia said. It was a side mirror from the bus. “It’s useful, right?”
“Of course it is! We can signal for help from passing planes. You catch the sun like this,” Owen said, climbing down out of the tree and grabbing it.
“Hey, I found it!” Olivia said, grabbing it back.
“Can I see?” Heather asked.
Olivia brought it over, stood on tiptoes, and handed it to her. Heather caught a glimpse of herself. Her tanned face was caked with blood and dirt. Her hair was matted and wild. Her eyes were deep set, and her right eyelid was swollen. She had a yellow bruise on her forehead, a cut across her left eyebrow, and another cut on her cheek she didn’t even remember getting.
“Wow, I look terrible,” she said with a laugh as she handed it back to Olivia.
“Oh my God, look at me,” Olivia said. She was sunburned with matted hair and red eyes.
“Let me see me,” Owen said.
The sunburn did nothing for his appearance either.
“How did all this happen? How did we get so…lost?” Olivia said quietly, sitting down on the ground.
“We’re not lost. We know where we are,” Owen said.
“You know what I mean.”
Heather climbed out of the tree. “We came to another world and we were driving too fast and we hit a woman. That’s all,” she said softly.
“Yes,” Olivia said.
Heather sat down and put her arms around Olivia’s waist. Owen sat down, and Heather put her arms around him too.